He made the claim after this week being criticised for ordering Moreton Bay Regional Council to remove a paragraph that cited a potential 0.8 metre sea rise in its draft regional plan.

The move prompted urgent inquiries from the Local Government Association of Queensland.

In defending the move, Mr Seeney said there had to be greater flexibility to protect the rights of existing land holders, while putting new developments under scrutiny.

"The state understands and expects councils to take account of potential climate change issues in the planning of new developments," Mr Seeney said.

"However they must take a more understanding and sensible approach to existing suburbs to ensure homeowners maintain existing rights such as being able to construct a deck on their house, or make other improvements to their property."

The LGAQ fears councils could be liable for damage if they are forced to remove references to climate change-derived sea level rises from planning documents, and developments go ahead in vulnerable areas.

Mr Seeney said he ordered the Moreton Bay council to remove its reference to sea levels after he was alerted to concerns raised by local residents at a series of public meetings.

"Local member Lisa France was invited to attend these meetings and, on behalf of her constituents, bought the issue to my attention," he said.

"It is possible for councils across Queensland to take account of potential sea level rises in their planning schemes, while not eroding the rights of residents to develop their properties."

He said the impact which sea level predictions had on existing properties' value had to be considered and he called for a "softer" approach when judging new developments against possible sea level rises.

Mr Seeney said taking account of a 0.8 metre potential sea rise in the Moreton Bay planning scheme removed the rights of individual property owners to lodge development applications and have them assessed on their own merits.

"I intervened in this issue to ensure residents' rights to build and develop their properties was maintained and not restricted by their local council," he said.

On December 9, Moreton Bay Regional Council mayor Cr Allan Sutherland said the council was concerned about it liability if a property was inundated by rising seas in the future.

Despite public pressure, the council has been reluctant to remove any assumptions about sea level rise from the scheme, arguing it would open future administrations up to legal action, he told the Caboolture News.

"For many months there's been a lot of misinformation, a lot of politically motivated [actions], a lot of skullduggery, a lot of half truths," Cr Sutherland said.

"In lay terms, we can take it out and get rid of it [predicted sea level rises] - it's out of our planning scheme and no one can see it," he said.

"But when someone comes along and puts an application in we have a very real obligation to include that and take that into account in our DA assessment, otherwise we could be held liable in that instance."

Environment Minister Andrew Powell said it was not an issue for his department and declined to comment on whether the portfolio was asked for advice.

"Decisions regarding property rights and planning are a matter for the Deputy Premier," he said.